Week of October 17-21 This week we will start to work in poetry groups and do conferences over your essays and your critical reading journals.
Tuesday-Computer Lab -- Library Lab 1
Go to the lab and work with a partner (you do not have to work in your poetry groups --just a partner is fine for this assignment).
Work with a partner on the following poems. Print a copy of the poem to mark up. Read through the poem using the provided questions and the annotation guide questions (see below). Together or individually, choose one of the poems you worked through and write an extended response. Post it to the wiki discussion linked to this page. Try using the thesis blueprint as your first line.
Thesis Blueprint In [poet’s} poem[title of poem in quotation marks], [literary devices] create a complex tone of [Choose at least 2 words from your tonal chart.], revealing [What observation about human nature is the poet making?]
POEMS Roethke, "My Papa's Waltz" link What is your interpretation of the events in this poem? What lines support your reading?
Some readers believe this poem is about child abuse. What lines or details support this interpretation?
Some readers believe this poem is about a warm, close moment between and son and a father. What lines or details support this interpretation?
Some readers believe the waltz in the poem is a metaphor for the relationship between the father and the son. What lines or details support this interpretation?
Carver, "Photograph of My Father in His Twenty-Second Year" link What are the speaker's feelings about his father? What lines reveal his feelings?
Why is the month specified?
What details are shown in the photograph?
How is this poem as much about the speaker as it is about his father?
Coleman, "Dear Mama" Link What emotions does the narrator have about her mother? What specific words and phrases tell you this?
Why did the poet choose not to use punctuation or capitalization?
Look at where each line breaks, and look at what information is contained on each line. See if you can figure out what is being emphasized on each line.
Hayden, "Those Winter Sundays" Link What does the speaker realize about his father now that he didn't realize as a child? What lines reveal this knowledge?
Why does the poem begin with the phrase "Sundays too"?
What kind of work did his father do?
What was the relationship between the father and the son like?
Was this a happy family?
ANNOTATION QUESTIONS AP English Literature and Composition Poetry Analysis Steps
I. Annotation of Poem: Follow each of these steps as you analyze the poem before writing your explication. Make notes about each step on the poem itself.
1. Notice the title. Make notes about your initial reactions at the top of the poem.
2. Locate the independent clauses in the poem, and read them individually. (They will often not end at the ends of the lines.) Notice any that are questions. For each independent clause, underline the subject once and verb twice.
3. Place boxes around vivid words whose meanings are complex or particularly apt. Look up words that you do not know;; underline these words, and write synonyms above the words in the poem.
4. Look for figurative language (similes, metaphors, personification, symbol,
allusion). Circle them and draw an arrow to the comparison, or explain the
comparison if it is implied.
5. Identify the speaker in this poem. From what point of view is the poem written? What is the occasion? Is it spoken to someone in particular? Make some notes about your ideas.
6. Locate the shift(s) in the poem (in point of view, tone, and focus);; draw a dividing line and briefly explain the change. Notice the "turning" words (but, so, yet, however);; make an asterisk beside these.
7. Identify the tone of the poem (or tones if there is a shift). Write the tone word(s) in the margin and draw arrows to elements of the poem that support the tone. Use your tone chart for precise vocabulary.
8. Read the poem again, aloud, preferably to someone else. Then, complete this sentence at the bottom of the page:
The poem "[title]" by [poet] is about [abstract topic], and it reveals [observation about humanity or human condition].
Week of October 17-21
This week we will start to work in poetry groups and do conferences over your essays and your critical reading journals.
Tuesday-Computer Lab -- Library Lab 1
Go to the lab and work with a partner (you do not have to work in your poetry groups --just a partner is fine for this assignment).
Work with a partner on the following poems. Print a copy of the poem to mark up. Read through the poem using the provided questions and the annotation guide questions (see below). Together or individually, choose one of the poems you worked through and write an extended response. Post it to the wiki discussion linked to this page. Try using the thesis blueprint as your first line.
Thesis Blueprint In [poet’s} poem[title of poem in quotation marks], [literary devices] create a complex tone of [Choose at least 2 words from your tonal chart.], revealing [What observation about human nature is the poet making?]
Flashcards
Tone Flashcards
POEMS
Roethke, "My Papa's Waltz" link
What is your interpretation of the events in this poem? What lines support your reading?
Carver, "Photograph of My Father in His Twenty-Second Year" link
What are the speaker's feelings about his father? What lines reveal his feelings?
Coleman, "Dear Mama" Link
What emotions does the narrator have about her mother? What specific words and phrases tell you this?
Hayden, "Those Winter Sundays" Link
What does the speaker realize about his father now that he didn't realize as a child? What lines reveal this knowledge?
ANNOTATION QUESTIONS
AP English Literature and Composition Poetry Analysis Steps
I. Annotation of Poem: Follow each of these steps as you analyze the poem before writing your explication. Make notes about each step on the poem itself.
1. Notice the title. Make notes about your initial reactions at the top of the poem.
2. Locate the independent clauses in the poem, and read them individually. (They will often not end at the ends of the lines.) Notice any that are questions. For each independent clause, underline the subject once and verb twice.
3. Place boxes around vivid words whose meanings are complex or particularly apt. Look up words that you do not know;; underline these words, and write synonyms above the words in the poem.
4. Look for figurative language (similes, metaphors, personification, symbol,
allusion). Circle them and draw an arrow to the comparison, or explain the
comparison if it is implied.
5. Identify the speaker in this poem. From what point of view is the poem written? What is the occasion? Is it spoken to someone in particular? Make some notes about your ideas.
6. Locate the shift(s) in the poem (in point of view, tone, and focus);; draw a dividing line and briefly explain the change. Notice the "turning" words (but, so, yet, however);; make an asterisk beside these.
7. Identify the tone of the poem (or tones if there is a shift). Write the tone word(s) in the margin and draw arrows to elements of the poem that support the tone. Use your tone chart for precise vocabulary.
8. Read the poem again, aloud, preferably to someone else. Then, complete this sentence at the bottom of the page:
The poem "[title]" by [poet] is about [abstract topic], and it reveals [observation about humanity or human condition].